Controller - Director of Accounting (Commercial Real Estate)

Key Responsibilities

• Accounting & Financial Management
• Oversee all accounting and financial reporting functions for the company’s portfolio of properties, entities, and related businesses.
• Manage accounting across 40+ legal entities and approximately 100 properties.
• Supervise monthly, quarterly, and annual close processes.
• Ensure accurate property-level, entity-level, and consolidated financial reporting.
• Oversee accounts payable, accounts receivable, bank reconciliations, intercompany transactions, owner distributions, lender reporting, and cash management.
• Review general ledger activity and ensure proper accounting treatment across all entities.
• Cook with outside CPAs, tax advisors, auditors, lenders, investors, and internal ownership.
• Maintain strong internal controls and ensure financial information is accurate, timely, and useful for management decision-making.
• Budgeting, Forecasting & KPI Reporting
• Lead the annual budgeting process for the company, its entities, and its property portfolio.
• Create and maintain property-level, entity-level, and company-level budgets.
• Develop budget-to-actual reporting and variance analysis for ownership and senior management.
• Build financial forecasts, cash flow projections, and capital planning reports.
• Establish and manage recurring KPI reporting for the company’s accounting, finance, property management, leasing, maintenance, and operational functions.
• Identify the most important financial and operational KPIs for the business and create a consistent reporting cadence around them.
• Track and report on metrics such as occupancy, collections, delinquency, operating expenses, NOI, cash flow, maintenance costs, leasing velocity, debt service coverage, entity-level performance, and department productivity.
• Work with ownership to turn accounting data into practical management insights and decision-making tools.
• Improve visibility into portfolio performance through dashboards, recurring reports, and clear executive summaries.

Qualifications

• Minimum 10+ years of accounting experience.
• Significant experience managing accounting operations for a complex business.
• Demonstrated ability to organize and manage an entire accounting and finance department.
• Strong understanding of financial statements, general ledger accounting, reconciliations, cash management, budgeting, forecasting, and internal controls.
• Experience managing multiple entities, properties, cost centers, or business units.
• Proven ability to create and manage SOPs, workflows, checklists, and reporting systems.
• Ability to create, manage, and report on company KPIs.
• Strong leadership, communication, and organizational skills.
• Comfortable working in a fast-moving entrepreneurial environment.
• Willingness to be both a high-level strategic thinker and a hands-on accounting operator.
• Strongly Preferred Experience with AppFolio.
• Real estate, property management, or real estate investment accounting experience.
• CPA license.
• Experience managing offshore accounting personnel or outsourced accounting support.
• Experience implementing automation, AI tools, or technology-enabled accounting processes.
• Experience building dashboards, budget-to-actual reports, financial models, and KPI reporting systems.
• Experience working with ownership, investors, lenders, and outside tax professionals.